On December 19, the defamation battle between Pirates of the Caribbean Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard finally seemed to come to an end. Heard announced that she would not be pursuing the appeal in the $10 million judgment against her. However, instead of paying Depp $10 million for defamation, she will only be paying him $1 million. Depp has said that the entire case was never about the money and that he will be donating all the money to charity.
The trouble began in 2018, when Heard (and the ACLU) wrote an OpEd for The Washington Post. In the OpEd, Heard said that she was a victim of domestic violence and, while she never named Depp, she claimed the abuse happened during the period the two were married.
During the six-week trial, both Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard testified and, during his testimony, Depp revealed that the OpEd had cost him one of his most important and successful relationships — the one he had with Disney. After the OpEd came out, Disney severed their relationship with Depp and cut him from the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film. That move cost Depp a reported $22 million.
The Hollywood Reporter recently sat down and spoke with Pirates of the Caribbean producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, who is also a close friend of Depp’s. They asked him about the possibility of Disney bringing Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow, and Bruckheimer said he would love to see that happen.
You’d have to ask them. I can’t answer that question. I really don’t know. I would love to have him in the movie. He’s a friend, a terrific actor and it’s unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do.
During the interview, Bruckheimer also revealed that they had tried killing off Depp’s Sparrow character, but it simply didn’t work.
Bruckheimer also said he would love to see Margot Robbie’s Pirates story come to life. Robbie had been set to star in a new Pirates story, but, last month, Robbie said that movie was “dead” at Disney. Bruckheimer, on the other hand, says that he still thinks the story is alive and that, hopefully, in the future, they can make the “strong” story happen.